What Genesis Teaches Us About God — The Promise Still Stands!

You're going to have to put your big brains on because we're

going to cover a lot of territory.

I've got a lot of story to share with you, a lot of teaching.

So you just got to take a deep breath and say I'm here for it.

All right, You ready? All right, we've gotten to the

end of the beginning, the end of Genesis.

Everything is answered in Genesis.

From week one. I've been telling you this is

where faith and 1st and facts come.

If you have a question, the answer to it originates in

Genesis, especially Genesis chapter one through 11.

What we learned from the very beginning is that God's

intention is made known to all of humanity right in Genesis.

And it's this, let me just remind you, His intention from

the beginning was to dwell with the people He loved in a place

that He created. It's his heart.

I just want to be with you and you with me, to dwell together

in the cool of the evening. But if you remember Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, Houston, we have a problem.

Sin enters the picture, the devil answers the picture.

And humanity decides like, hey, we want to go our own way.

Thanks for the love, thanks for the care, thanks for the Garden

of Eden. But we're deucing out.

We're piercing out. We're going to go on our own.

And since Genesis chapter 3 unto today, the Lord has set forth a

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

plan to redeem what has been broken in the garden.

It's the singular thread that weaves all throughout the

scriptures. It carries us into our next

series which begins next week called the Kingdom Unveiled.

I say Kingdom, you say unveiled Kingdom.

We're going to talk about the parables.

If you don't know what a parable is, show up next week.

But I'll tell you this, Jesus didn't just come to save us.

That's a self-centered gospel. Jesus came to reveal the Kingdom

of heaven on earth, and he says it's a reality that you can

experience now. We don't have to wait for it

like it's up in a hidey hole that we only get to go to when

you die. So if any part of your life does

not feel heavenly, then the parables are for you.

The parables are to inform you you can live heaven on earth.

Somebody say Amen. All right, so be here next week.

Deal. All right, let's take out our

Bibles. Genesis chapter 45 is going to

Genesis 45 · chapter mention

be where you want to be. If you need a Bible, raise your

hand. They'll bring you one.

As you're opening your Bibles, I want to declare a prophetic

word, not pathetic prophetic word over you.

Is that a hand for the prophetic word?

You need a Bible. How about the word to Amen,

sister, here's the word. Are you ready?

Say yes, you're going to make it.

That's the word. You're going to make it.

The enemy wants you to live in a place of hopelessness that says,

you know what? It's a dead end.

It's as good as it gets. It's broken.

It's not getting fixed. The relationship can't be

restored. My mental health, my body health

can't be restored. I'm here to say to you that

Genesis teaches us that God is a God who says you're going to

make it? She believes.

Anyone else? You're going to make it.

That's Genesis teaches us that There's so many stops and starts

in the book of Genesis, so many failures and missteps by

humanity in the book of Genesis. Yet the work of God prevails,

The work of God perseveres, The work of God goes forward.

If we learn anything in Genesis, it's this.

God keeps his promises. Over long stretches of time with

an unfaithful people, God keeps his promises.

From the beginning, God, I just said it, wanted to dwell with

people in a place that he created.

That's the promise, and he kept it.

And by the way, dot dot dot. He's still keeping it today.

God holds fast even we are faithless.

He is faith. Full So if you boil all that

down, if you know that God has been faithful from the

beginning, he keeps his promises from the beginning and the

evidence is everything that we see in scripture from the

beginning to now that I can declare over you in truth,

you're going to make it. You better believe it.

You're going to make it. Romans chapter 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

Pastor Kim introduced this into the series last week.

By the way, didn't Pastor Kim, Pastor David and Pastor

Christine do an incredible job last three weeks?

Hallelujah. We've got a stellar teaching

team here. Romans 828 familiar words If

you've been around the church and we know that for those who

love God, key point by the way, don't skip that part.

For those who love God, all things I would say all things

that means good things, bad things, mountaintops, valleys,

all things work together for good, say for good.

You didn't know you'd be talking so much this morning.

Neither did I, just happens. For those who are called

according to his purpose, today's message is called for

good. Write it down.

If you're not taking notes, why you here?

I'm just wondering now. We can't look at each other now

because I'm worried you're not taking notes.

And I don't know if I make you feel awkward if I look up, but

I'm going on God, it's for good. For good in Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

does not mean easy rainbows and unicorns, as it were.

It doesn't mean running downhill with the wind at your back at

all times. God works all things for good,

and for good means He makes all things right.

That's what the word Shalom means, all things rightly in

your life. As we have seen proved in

Genesis, God is going to make things right.

He's going to make them turn them for good.

That's His promise, but as we've seen all throughout our journey

in Genesis, and we're going to see it again today, he's also

ensuring that this goodness goes on for good for all time,

through all ages. Everything will work out for

good, for good, for good meaning, right?

And also for good meaning for all time.

I'm going to look together at the last part, the final week of

our journey through Genesis and the story of Genesis.

Pastor Kim introduced this last week.

If you missed it, go watch the service.

But I'll, I'm going to catch us all up super quick, Joseph.

One of the twelve sons of Jacob. He's despised by his brothers.

He sold into slavery. He goes into the pit.

He goes from the pit into the prison because of Potiphar's

wife. She catches them and she's lying

and deceptive. I'm going really fast for this.

And and he goes to prison. And then from prison he's

elevated to become the second in charge of all of Pharaoh's land,

the second in charge of Egypt. He wears the signet ring, the

authority in the signing power. Of Pharaoh, God does this for

them because God is faithful, but also Joseph is full of

integrity, never leaving his desire to please the Lord.

And the Lord raises them up in Potiphar's house, he raises them

up in the prison, he raises them up in the palace.

The way that he got to the palace, if you remember, is that

Pharaoh was having some dreams and Pharaoh couldn't understand

his own dreams. He's like, I've been dreaming

about 7 fat cows being eaten by 7 skinny cows.

Anyone remember this? And then he said, I've also been

dreaming about 7 grains of stock, big ones being eaten by 7

wimpy, wimpy, wimpy grains of stock.

And I don't understand them. And the cupbearer remembers that

this guy in prison named Joseph had interpreted his own dream.

He's like, hey, there's a guy in prison who can interpret your

dream. So they bring Joseph from

prison. You're remembering this.

This is all last week. And he tells them, hey, the

dreams are one and the same. 7 fat cows, 7 big grains of stock,

that's seven years of feasting. And then the seven skinny cows

and the seven weak grains of weak stocks of grain are 7 years

of famine. And as a bonus, based on the

integrity and the wisdom that's placed in Joseph, he says so

far, you ought to save during these seven years so that during

the seven years of famine, there's enough for you and the

land. And you can actually actually

sell some off to the neighboring lands, which will also be in

famine. That's where we ended last week.

Joseph elevated out of all of these terrible places.

And so catching up this week, it's story time with Tim.

Here we go. Joseph's brothers who are living

up in the north in Canaan, which will is the promised land, will

become Israel. It's Israel to this day.

They're there and they're experiencing the seven years of

famine. But they didn't know the seven

years of famine were coming. So they have not stored up.

And they say to themselves, we hear that Egypt has food for us

to eat. And so Jacob, the dad of 12 sons

who thinks one is dead, he thinks Joseph's dead, says, hey,

the 10 of you go and get grain from Egypt.

Leave here with me. Benjamin, the youngest, his new

favorite son. Joseph was his favorite son.

He thinks Joseph's dead. And now he has Benjamin, the

youngest of all of his children. Leave him here with me.

Hey, go. You remember the story?

Have you seen the story? It's incredible.

They go to Egypt and there is Joseph.

But Joseph is veiled to them. He's either too far away, he's

covered up. They don't know that it's

Joseph. Even if it was him standing

there grown up, they might not recognize him.

They haven't seen him in decades.

And Joseph recognizes his brothers but does not reveal

himself yet. He gives them grain.

They leave. There's some stuff that happens.

But he says to them, the next time you come back, don't come

back here without your younger brother.

So they go back to Canaan, and they're there eating the grain.

And they run out of grain. And they're like, we got to go

back. And the brothers say, hey, dad,

the man in charge, the master, they have no idea.

It's Joseph said we can't come back unless we bring Benjamin

and Jacob's like, no way. I've already lost one son.

I'm not losing another. And like, well, we can't go

back. We can't stand in his presence

unless we take your favorite son with us.

And so Judah, one of the brothers comes to the Jacob the

father and says if anything happens to Benjamin, I'll pay

the price. Like trust them to me.

And so Jacob relents. He sends all the eleven sons

back to Egypt. Are you still following with me?

Come on, Church. All right, They get back.

They still have no idea. It's Joseph.

They're like, hey, we need more. And he's like, is this Benjamin?

And like, yeah, they have a feast.

They throw out the pancakes. Everyone has one pancake, but

Benjamin has five pancakes. He gets five times the amount of

food. That everyone else gets like,

wow, that's pretty cool. And they're like, all right,

here's your grain. They sent them on our way.

But Joseph had deceived a plan. Deceived.

Is that the right word? Conceived?

Different word. He said, hey, put, put their

silver that they brought their gold that they brought to buy

the crop with, put it back in their sacks of grain.

And in Benjamin's sack, put my silver cup in his bag of grain.

They put it in there. And the brothers go along their

way. They're heading back to daddy,

to Canaan. And Joseph says, all right, now

go and say, if you find silver in anybody, the silver cup in

anybody's bag, they got to come live with me forever, become my

slave. So the attendant goes, he

catches the brothers. They're halfway back.

Are you still with me? I told you it's story time.

And the guy says like, hey, if any of you has the silver in

your sack, you got to come back and.

And be a slave forever. And they're like, no way.

Nobody has the silver in the sack.

And they all open their sacks. And of course, it's Benjamin

who's got the silver cup in his sack.

And he takes it out. And all the brothers RIP their

clothes in grief because Benjamin the one, the only one

that has to go back to Dad, is now going to become a slave to

this guy, this master they don't know.

Are you still with me? We're almost there.

So they turn their donkeys around, they go back up to Egypt

or down to Egypt. They get in front of this guy.

They're like, hey, you can't have him, anybody but him.

We have a father, Joseph's father, who's very old.

He already has lost one of his sons, Joseph.

And you will send his head down to the grave if you take also

this other young son, Benjamin. Finally, chapter 45, verse one.

This is better written than anything in Hollywood.

Then Joseph could no longer control himself.

Before all his attendance, he cried out.

Have everyone leave my presence. So there was no one with Joseph

when he made himself known to his brothers and he wept so

loudly that the Egyptians heard him.

Anyone ever done one of these ugly cries?

It's so loud it shakes the house.

Anyone but me and her. OK.

This is participation. And Pharaoh's household heard it

too. Joseph said to his brothers, I

am Joseph is my father still living.

But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were

terrified at his presence. This is the dude we sold into

slavery. We try to kill him, and now he's

in charge. Then Joseph said to his

brothers, Come close to me. When they had done so, he said,

I am your brother, Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt.

And now? Do not be.

Distressed. Do not be angry with yourselves

for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent

you ahead of me. For two years now there's been a

famine in the land, and for the next 5 years there will be no

plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to

preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by

a great deliverance. So then it was not you who sent

me here, but God. He made me a father to Pharaoh,

Lord of his entire household, and ruler of all Egypt.

Glory be to God. What a moment.

It's like one of those moments you wish you would have seen

with your own eyes. But Joseph does here for his

brothers, gives us a revealing picture as to the heart of God

that we've been seeing all throughout Genesis.

If we've been paying attention, Joseph is a type that gives us

an illustration, a snapshot as to the.

Character and nature of God and how God has been doing what God

has been doing all along in Genesis and he's still doing, by

the way, in May of 2026. Three things that I want to

share with you real quick. Number one, God is forgiver.

Everyone say forgiver. Joseph says to them, don't be

distressed. They think they're about to be

destroyed and Joseph gives them mercy.

Don't be distressed. Don't be angry with yourselves.

I'm not holding this against you.

Don't hold this against you. It reminds us in Genesis earlier

when Adam and Eve's sin and God told them clearly if you eat

from that tree, you will die. And God has mercy on them from

the very beginning. The first people to sin is the

first instance of mercy and forgiveness.

He sacrificed animals on their behalf and cover them with the

skins of the animals. Substitutionary atonement.

God is forgiver. Joseph is able to forgive here,

by the way, because he's made a pivot.

He's reoriented his perspective in light of God's purposes.

He doesn't think through his lens.

He thinks, what is God up to? He says God has actually brought

me here to save lives, so I see God's purpose.

That's why I can forgive you, because God sent me here ahead

of you. I'm wondering if there's anyone

in your life that you need to forgive, but you can't forgive

them because you're still seeing it through your perspective and

not God's purposes. Maybe that's the only reason you

came today is so that God can say that to you.

Maybe there's somebody you need to forgive, but you can't

because you're seeing it through your lens and not God's lens.

He's forgiven. Not not only that, he's got his

provider. Everyone say provider.

Verse 6, he says there's hey, we've already been two years of

famine. It's going to be 5 more years of

famine coming, but I've sent Joseph ahead of you to provide

this crop for you that you might live.

It reminds us of what Pastor Christine taught about a few

weeks ago. Abraham going up the mountain

about to sacrifice his own son Isaac.

And as the knife is ready there, the thicket is a ram and Abram

calls out your name is Jehovah Jireh provider, the one who

provides. He will provide Jesus who is the

way, the truth and the life. I'm wondering this morning if

you live in the mindset of scarcity or the mindset of

abundance. Because to the faithful, He

will. Provide somebody say yes, God is

forgiver, God is provider. He is also promised fulfiller.

Everyone say fulfiller at verse 7, he says I have sent Joseph

ahead to preserve a remnant on the earth like we saw God saving

Noah through the flood that we see God making his promise to

Abraham and to Isaac and to Israel also known as Jacob.

Which brings us back to the start of the series.

We talked about the word meta narrative, this overarching

singular story, from the garden to the cross to a new heaven and

a new earth. This whole story could have been

cut. Off.

So many times, but so many times, God was a preserving,

promise, fulfilling keeper of the covenant.

Joseph went ahead to prepare a place for his family so that

they can survive. Jesus has gone ahead of us so

that we too can survive. John, chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

I read this earlier in the series, but I want to read it

again. It won't be on the screen.

Just let it fall into your heart like rain.

Don't let your hearts be troubled.

Jesus says you believe in God, believe also in me.

And my father's house has many rooms.

If that were not so, what? I've told you that I'm going

there to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and

take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am.

Joseph went ahead to prepare for the survival of his family.

Jesus has gone ahead to prepare for the survival of his people.

But both Joseph and Jesus had to suffer in order to preserve the

remnant. Joseph and Jesus determined that

the suffering was worth it because of their eternal

perspective. I'm wondering this morning if

you're suffering through something and God is saying just

hang in there. The suffering is worth it if you

can grab some eternal perspective, the preservation of

the promise that is coming. He's working things for good,

for good now, Joseph says to his brothers.

Now that they're revealed, go back home, get Dad and bring him

back here. And during the famine, we're

going to take care of everybody. We're going to set up land.

You're going to prosper here. Everything's going to go well.

The brothers go home. But Jacob is very unsettled by

thinking about leaving the promised land.

This is the land where the covenant is supposed to be kept,

and you're saying to leave the land.

He doesn't want to do it until God speaks to him.

Look at Genesis chapter 46, verses 3 and 4.

Genesis 46:3

God speaks to Jacob, also known as Israel, in a vision.

He says I am God, the God of your father.

He said do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make

you into a great nation there. This is covenant language spoken

to Abraham, spoken to Isaac, and now spoken to Jacob.

I will make you into a great nation there.

I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you

back again, and Joseph's own hand will close your eyes.

God is letting Jacob know here that the remnant will live and

the covenant will live with it. It's the same covenant words

that he spoke to Abraham. And as proof that this has

actually happened, history always proves what the Bible had

prophetically said. Amen.

We have this tiny clan, family, clan of 70 people living in

Canaan. Jacob's the patriarch of this

group and they 70 go down to Egypt there to the they do

prosper there. Everything's going well by the

way. And 400 years later in the book

we have in our Bible called Exodus, led by Moses and Joshua.

This 70 clan people turned into over 2 million people, with

hundreds of thousands of fighting men and their families.

Abraham and Sarah, you will be a nation.

You will have descendants as NUM numerous as the sand on the

seashore and as the stars in the sky.

And Abraham's 90 and he's saggy and he has no kids.

And then one kid is born, Isaac. And Fast forward all these

years, and now there's over 2 million people returning to the

promised land. God kept his promise for good.

For good, you say? For good, for good, for good.

Amen. So the family moves down there

in Egypt. They prosper.

Everything's going well in Egypt.

And then Joseph has an announcement to make.

We showed it on the screen a little earlier, verse 50.

He gathers a family around and he has this announcement.

Genesis 50, chapter 50, verse 24.

Then Jesus, then Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die.

What a great meeting. I am about to die.

But God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land

to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And Joseph made the sons of Israel his brothers take an oath

and said God will surely attend to you.

And then you must carry my bones up from this place.

Some read this and think that Joseph is making burial plans,

funeral plans. This is where my plot is going

to be. This is my headstone will say

best of all the brothers, whatever it's going to say.

But this isn't funeral plans. The Bible actually says that

this moment is the moment of faith for Joseph.

Hebrews 11, chapter 22 By faith, Joseph, when he was near his

end, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and

gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

Joseph knows. He doesn't just think our hope.

He knows that one day, based on the promise of God, he's seen in

his great grandfather, his grandfather, his father, and now

him, that the Israelites will return to the promised land.

And he says, when you go, take me with you.

In your situation, I wonder this morning, are you planning a

funeral or are you standing in faith?

Is he going to work things for good, for good, or is it broken

and done? Joseph wasn't making funeral

plans. He was standing in his faith and

it's fulfilled. Exodus chapter 13400 Years

later, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph

had made the Israelites swear an oath.

He had said, God will surely come to your aid, and then you

must carry my bones up with you from this place.

Joshua chapter 24 And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the

plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of

Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 pieces of silver.

So it became an inheritance for Joseph's descendants.

I believe that Joseph knew what we're trying to learn in the

series together, that God had made a promise.

And that God keeps his promises that one day a nation would

dwell in the promised lands. And Joseph's words and his

actions revealed his actual faith.

They revealed his trust. They revealed that he believed

in God's promise. I have to look at Joseph and

then look at myself in the mirror and wonder, do my words

and my actions reveal my actual faith, my actual trust and the

Lord my God? Everyone say one last note here

in Genesis before we exit the series that I think it's very

important for us to understand and appreciate together how God

biblically and typically made things for good, for good.

What was his process? How did he go about doing this

repeatedly, going from for good, for good over and over.

When the humans kept failing, what did he do to make it right?

It's a theme that we see in the final chapters of Genesis.

We've seen it all throughout Genesis, maybe even paying

attention. We've been hinting at it and we

see it still in our lives today. We see it all throughout the

Bible. The meta narrative sets a

foundation for us to understand God still to this day.

Genesis 48. Joseph brings us two sons, the

older son Manessa and the younger son Ephraim, to be

blessed by his dad Jacob. Now, typically this thing called

promogenitor, which is like the oldest son gets all the glory,

right? And the other sons get kind of

like waiting for the older son to die and then they take their

place. You know what I'm talking about?

You know what I'm talking about. So the blessing is supposed to

go on Vanessa, the covenant through Jacob now to Vanessa.

And so Joseph brings them forward to be blessed by Jacob.

And Jacob supposed to put his right hand a blessing on Manessa

and his left hand of lesser blessing on Ephraim.

But as they bring the two forward, Jacob does this Bible

says he crosses his hands. He puts his left hand of lesser

blessing on the older son Manessa, and the hand of

blessing on the younger son Ephraim.

You picking up what I'm putting down?

Just not happy about it. 4817 when Joseph saw his father

placing his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was

displeased. So he took hold of his father's

hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manessa's head.

But Joseph said, Joseph said to him, no my father, this one is

the first born. Put your right hand on his head.

But his father refused and said, I know my son.

I know he too will become a people and he too will become

great. Nevertheless, his younger

brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become

a group of nations. He blessed him that day and

said, in your name. Will Israel pronounce this

blessing? May God make you like Ephraim

and Vanessa, putting the first name of the younger son 1st and

Manessa. So he put Ephraim ahead of

Manessa. Do you see it?

Have you seen it all along? This is what God does to make

things for good, for good. He puts the lesser before the

greater. He puts the lower before the

higher. It's everywhere in Genesis.

This is how God make excuse me? God makes for good for good.

Cain and Abel Genesis chapter 4 The younger Cain the younger

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Abel receives God's favor and blessing on his offering, while

Cain, the older does not. Genesis chapter 16 Ishmael and

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

Isaac. Ishmael is Abraham's first born,

but Isaac, born later to Sarah, inherits the covenant promises

Esau and Jacob. God declares even before their

birth that the older shall serve the younger.

Jacob receives both the birthright which sold to him by

Esau, and the patriarchal blessing which he received

through deception. That's why Jacob's name means

deceiver. Joseph and his brothers that

we're looking at today. Joseph is younger than all but

one of his brothers, and yet he is elevated to leadership.

It is Joseph that saves his family.

It is Joseph that receives his line, a double portion, a

blessing. We see it here with Ephraim and

Vanessa when Jacob deliberately crosses his hands to bless the

younger Ephraim over the older Manessa, giving him the greater

blessing despite Joseph's objection.

Later we see it with a guy named David, King David.

He's the youngest of Jesse's son, the 8th born son.

His older brothers are already serving in Saul's army.

They appeared more ready for the job, more qualified.

They're strong, experienced warriors.

And when the prophet Samuel comes to anoint the next king,

he's initially impressed by the seven brothers.

Like, look at these lads. Big strong oxes they are.

I don't know why he sounds like you would all the sudden.

First Samuel 16 seven super famous verse in scripture.

God says to Samuel don't consider his appearance or his

height. The Lord does not look at the

things people look at. People look at the outward

appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Solomon guy who builds the temple, he's 10th in the line to

the throne, but God chooses him to build his temple in Jerusalem

instead of the 1st 9. Even later we see with a lowly

carpenter's boy born to a virgin in a Manger out in the back, and

then some fishermen, some blue collar fishermen, and a

deceitful tax collector and a crippled man.

They're chosen above the Pharisees and the Sadducees and

the Sanhedrin and the scribes and the teachers of the law.

All the elite aren't chosen, but the least last and the lost are

chosen. And then one final pick.

God picks you and me. Seems like there's so many

better people out there for him to pick, doesn't it?

That's what we feel inside. Like when you look in the mirror

like I'm the worst of the worst, why would God ever use me?

And yet he does. The lesser over the greater.

This is the way that the Lord works, the weak over the strong.

It's the way that the Lord works for four reasons.

I'm going to run through them so fast they're going to blind you

#1 God is sovereign over human traditions and expectations.

This idea of primogenitor, where the first born gets everything,

they even made it into law in Israel.

It's part of Deuteronomy. But God repeatedly shows He's

not bound by what humans do. He chooses and blesses according

to His own will, His own purposes, not according to

cultural norms, not according to birth or or human merit.

All y'all first born kids, sorry.

Middle child, middle junk. God loves the first born and a

second born, and whatever you are #2 God chooses the unlikely

of the weak to display his own power.

By favoring the younger, by favoring the overlooked, by

choosing the underdog, God demonstrates that success always

comes from him. Somebody say yes.

It doesn't come from natural strength.

It doesn't come from status, doesn't come from seniority.

First Corinthians says that God has chosen the foolish things of

the weak things, the shame, the wise, the strong.

Look at Judges chapter 6, Gideon, He says my family's, my

Judges 6 · chapter mention

tribe is the weakest, my clan is the weakest, my family's the

weakest, and I'm the weakest in my family.

And God says, perfect, I'm going to use you and only 300 others

to defeat an army of 30,000. Just how God does it #3 God

chooses the less over the greater.

Emphasize that it's heart and faith that matter more than

outward appearance. We see this with David.

We see this with Joseph. Number 4A forward-looking sign

of reversal in God's Kingdom. This is massively important.

The pattern that God uses to choose the lesser over the

greater illustrates that God's plan often inverts worldly

hierarchies. The last become first.

The humbled are exalted appoints, of course, ultimately

to Jesus, who embodies the ultimate reversal, taking the

glory of God and stuffing it into human flesh.

The king becoming the one who washes the feet.

The king becoming the one who's a servant to all.

The king becoming the one who dies on the cross, a criminal's

death. The stone the builders rejected

becoming the cornerstone. This is exactly how Genesis

ends. Genesis 5020.

You intended to harm me, Joseph says.

But God intended it. Everyone say the words with me

together for good. I'm going to give you a second

chance. I didn't prepare you.

You intended to harm me. But God intended it for good, to

accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Since the beginning, He's always been working for good.

For good. I wish I could show you the

expanse of this. How long he has endured, how

faithful he's been, how long-suffering the length and

the depths of his love. If only I had a large piece of

rope. This is it.

Oh, we practiced that. I want to show you the expanse

of God's love, and this is either going to be the most

cringey thing you've ever seen or the most amazing thing you've

ever seen. So prophetically, I'm going to

say it's amazing, but I need your help.

All along the way of our journey through this rope, you're just

going to be into it. Amen.

Don't you love the rope? Are you excited to see what the

rope's about? Yeah, I want you to see here.

Can you see the tape? Some of the tape is very

obvious. Some of it's a little bit less

obvious. You'll you will see.

But here is creation. This is the beginning of all

things right here, right now, 7 days of creation.

Adam and Eve get the breath of life put into them.

They name all the animals. Adam and Eve eat the fruit.

The devil enters a picture. All sorts of Vadnais is

happening here. You get to the end.

You got Cain and Abel and Cain's beam a murdering Abel.

All of this is happening here in this first little bit of time

and God has been faithful even in this time.

He could have said I'm done, I'm out.

I hate people. I made a mistake for no do

overs. You're done but God is faithful.

So time goes on. I'm going to run out of breath

at some point. I just want you to know because

it looks like it's light but it's not.

I mean this is like 4 lbs. All of this time is passing by

1000, about 1600 years between the end of the story of Cain and

Abel, through the tower of battle and the table of nations,

humanity has gone completely off the rails.

They're marrying aliens. If you remember Genesis chapter

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

6, the time of Noah comes along. There's no one left on the

earth, all evil all the time. That's all their heart thought

about except for Noah and his family and Noah.

All this time, God's keeping the promise.

All this time God is staying faithful to what he's said he's

going to do in Genesis. And then we get that took a

while. You're supposed to be into this,

right? Come on, you didn't come all the

way from the Midwest to see nothing.

So this is of course, Noah and the flood.

God is. This is only Genesis 12345 and

6. You know how much rope is up

here? A lot more.

Here we go. Time passes.

Oh, I almost passed Abraham. So can you see that?

You can barely see it, but it's supposed to be like sand because

Abraham's in the desert and he's moving from earth, the

Chaldeans, down and into Israel and he goes down to Egypt.

And then this is the time that Abraham, Abraham of course, has

sons. This is Isaac.

Abraham has Isaac. Y'all, we've been in Genesis for

like 3 months. Isaac has a son.

His name is Jacob. This is Jacob who has the 12,

the 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of Israel.

One of those sons is Joseph. This is Joseph in Egypt.

This is Joseph leading us back to the grain.

This whole time through all these these generations, God is

being faithful from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Amen.

Are you still here? But wait, there's more.

Woo. We get here, You know what?

This is Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, the exodus that was

400 years that we covered. From this time we use ChatGPT to

measure out exactly how many feet and inches.

OK, this is Moses. And then we get to Joshua, the

Joshua generation leading into the promised land, into the Holy

Land they conquering and yeah, well, OK, here we go.

Oh hey, who's coming down the line?

Who could it be? All this time, God's

faithfulness, all this time, he's keeping his promise.

All this time he could have given up and said, I'm done with

the people because the people kept turning on him, but he was

faithful. Here is King David in royal

blue, beautiful. And then, of course, King David

is followed by Solomon, who builds the temple, the Golden

Temple of the Temple Mount in Israel.

I hope one day we can go back. I hope we can go, oh, we're all

going to go one day. You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? And then whoa, still going bad

news. This is the exile 586 BC because

of sin. God said, hey, I'm not smiting

people. I decided not to do that anymore

with the rainbow. If you remember rainbow, but I'm

kicking you out of the country. You defame my name.

You're burning your own children to foreign gods who are not gods

at all. Can you imagine?

Let's go next door to the kids ministry.

Pick one. It's kind of, I kind of smile

because I'm. This is fun.

But that's not fun, right? OK.

And then after the exile, we get a period of silence and nothing

is happening. And we're waiting for the

consolation of Israel to come. And here he comes.

Everybody is Jesus. All this time God kept his

promise from Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 where he said, hey

Genesis 3:15

snake, you're going to bite the heel of the human, but one will

come, born of woman who will crush your head and he has come.

His name is his name is his name is the church is born.

And then time passes. This is going to take a minute.

Oh, my goodness. It's going to take this.

All this time he's faithful. All this time he's keeping his

promises. And here we come, people.

Let it go. Two claps for Kaden in the back.

Yeah. All the work he's seen me do

here, he's doing back there. So.

This Is Us. All of this God has been

faithful and here we are a few things about right here right

now. First of all, I want you to see

in the course of history, we're a blip.

And I don't mean to speak lowly of what God has created in us,

but maybe we're not as important as we think we are at the same

time as being valued of God, that he would send a son, Jesus.

But we're just part of an incredible chain that has been

going on all this time. Y'all, I'm out of breath.

What's that? Oxygen, anyone?

What's that? Start over.

Oh, yeah, OK, we're going to start over.

Whatever. Oh, here's what I want to say.

At the beginning, I said you're going to make it.

And the reason I know that you're going to make it.

Is because if you're worried about this then let me just

remind you that God has been faithful.

Go ahead Kaden with all of this and if he's been faithful with

all of this keep going Kaden. Don't you think that he can be

faithful? What's happening in your life?

Amen. OK, Kaden, I want you to know

that there, the great cloud of witnesses that we read about in

Hebrews, are all these people that have gone before us,

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, David and Solomon, and

millions and millions of faithful men and women, Ruth and

Esther, Obadiah, they're they're all in there, right?

And their story has been passed along.

Here I go again. And passed along by faithful men

and women, shepherds, pastors, preachers, disciples, regular

old people like you and me to hear all of these faithful

people. And now it's resting on us.

And everyone that's up here is depending on us.

This is why the church exists, not just for ourselves, but for

the future glory of God. For one day he will return.

Yeah, His return is on the rope. Here it comes.

Keep it going. The second return of Jesus.

Genesis, all this long rope ago, foretells this moment.

From the very beginning we have known that this was coming.

Let me, let me read this to you if I can.

Genesis 49. Take a breath, everybody.

Judah, what's happening here is that Jacob is blessing all of

his sons. He's speaking a blessing over

all of them. And he gets to Judah, which is

the line of Jesus, and he says, Judah, your brothers will praise

you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your

father's sons will bow down to you.

You are a lions cub, Judah. You return from the prey, my

son, like a lion. He crouches and lies down like a

lioness who dares to rouse him. The scepter will not depart from

Judah. Meaning.

The. Rulership, the kingship will

always go through Judah, nor the ruler staff from between his

feet until he whom to Excuse me, I need a breath.

Verse 10. The scepter will not depart from

Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he

to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nation

shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a

vine. He will tie his colt to the

choicest branch. He will wash his garments and

wine his robes in the blood of grapes.

His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than

milk. Now, while Judah can merely

guess at the true meaning of Jacob's blessing, Judah's

ultimate descendant, the one whom Jacob speaks, will both

know and fulfill the prophecy of the blood and the wine.

Isaiah chapter 63 says the prophets anticipate the coming.

Isaiah 63 · chapter mention

1 the Conqueror who accomplishes victory, whose garments are

stained in Crimson. John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

Jesus first miracle. He turns water to wine.

Matthew chapter 26 during the Last Supper.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

The wine represents the new covenant in his blood.

Luke chapter 22 Jesus sweats drops of blood in the garden of

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Gethsemane. Mark chapter 15 Before his death

Mark 15 · chapter mention

Jesus is offered wine to drink. John chapter 19 Jesus side is

John 19 · chapter mention

pierced and his garments are soaked in blood like the blood

of grapes and Revelation 19 At his return Jesus will subdue his

enemies while wearing a robe dipped in blood.

Jesus is the promised warrior king who comes to trample the

winepress of the fierce anger of God.

Christ the warrior king will both strike down the enemies of

God and extend forgiveness to his people through his own shed

blood. Do you see it the entire time

God has been working something good for good for good.

I'm going to ask you a question if your answer is.

Yes, or I'm in or whatever version.

I just want you to stand to your feet when you're ready to answer

it. Amen.

Last thought, last question of God has spent this.

Whole. Time being faithful to us Might

today be the day we make a commitment to be faithful to

Him. If that's you, will you stand

with me? Father, in the name of Jesus, we

say thank you for the blood of Jesus, the singular thread from

creation to his return. By his forgiveness, by his grace

and his mercy, He has set us free.

He has kept the remnant, He has preserved us from the death that

we deserve. And so we give honor and

worship. We take in as we understand,

appreciate. Just let us soak in our hearts.

How faithful, how long, how good, steadfast you have been.

We honor you today, for you are the King, the worthy one of

Israel, the worthy one of our hearts, the worthy one who is

the head of the Church. We set our hearts to you, and we

make a commitment here in your space, in your house,

understanding your faithfulness to us.

It is our desire as your disciples, as followers of

Jesus, to be faithful to you. We bless you, we honor you, and

we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.

Hallelujah.